Ciders are an amazing refreshment straight after primary fermentation, yet there’s a lot to aging that makes ciders even greater in some cases.
Hard ciders aren’t exactly like other popular brews such as beers and meads, so different rules apply to the making of ciders.
If you already made hard cider or are about to make one, it’s normal that you ask whether ciders need to be aged or not.
Ciders don’t need aging and can be enjoyed straight after the primary fermentation ended and Co2 levels are built up. However, certain types of ciders such as high ABV, highly tannin, and acidic hard ciders will get better with aging.
To explain what I mean by this, We’ll need to break down all important aspects that determine cider aging, so you know what you can expect.
How long before you can drink homemade cider?
Most ciders will be amazing straight after the fermentation is complete, you let them carbonate for 10 days in case you are not forcing carbonatation in the keg, and let them sit in the fridge for a couple of hours to drop the temperature to 50°F (10°C) and contract the Co2.
That said, this is a normal expected time for most cider recipes. If you back sweeten in the secondary or add some additions like other fruit or spices it will prolong this process for extra days, but the conclusion is that most ciders will literally be great tasting without any extra aging.
When you think of this, why would ciders need to be aged to be good? After all, ciders aren’t full of complex grains that get better over time, fruit juice isn’t the same as honey and most ciders aren’t brewed with high ABV.
What ciders are best when aged?
Sugar is a great way to mask acidity, high alcohol content, and tannin presence. Thus, if you sweeten your cider with plenty of sugar you won’t see a dramatic difference after aging the cider as the sugar will still remain there, won’t mellow at all, and will overpower any difference.
This is the reason coffee tastes different without sugar, no matter how distinct the certain coffee profile is, if you add lots of sugar in it, the sugar will overpower it.
So, if you want to enjoy your cider faster you can add sugar to it to fix issues such as high acidity, harsh alcoholic taste, and astringency from tannins. Furthermore, don’t use any fermentable sugar if the yeast is still alive due to bottle bombs, or neutralize it before adding sugars.
Now, there are some reasons why ciders should be aged and those are:
- Cider benefits from aging in barrels just like any other brew (wood adds a touch to the taste)
- Acidic and harsh alcoholic taste mellows with time
- Tannins responsible for astringent sensation mature (become more enjoyable)
- Yeast continues to do its magic over time (improves certain flavors and minimizes some off-flavors)
If non of the mentioned benefits of aging play the important role in your cider, then aging isn’t necessary.
The last time I brewed a simple 6% apple hard cider made from sweet Jonathan apples and back sweeten with sugar, I couldn’t tell the difference between 2 weeks of aging and 6 months of aging, except the tart presence dropped a bit.
Did this aging make a better cider? In my opinion not really, as I enjoyed that extra tart presence anyways and it was barely noticeable in the first place due to the high amount of sugar I used to sweeten it.
On the other hand, more sophisticated, not-so-sweet ciders that were made from other fruit or apple varieties with strong tannins, acid, and perhaps alcohol content were significantly better after aging.
How long should cider be aged?
How long should cider age or in other words sit after bottling if you bottle straight after fermenting depends on the type of cider you made and what flavor you are looking for.
Any cider will have a fruity, fresh, and bright flavor from the start and if you love it then minimal or no aging should be done.
Otherwise, aging ciders for several months to a year will create more mature flavors, so let’s see what time is exactly needed per each instance.
Minimum 4 weeks for improved taste (yeast effect and tannins) – Some ciders will already taste better after 4 weeks, letting them age a bit longer than that to let’s say 6 weeks may result in even better results in some ciders. However, it’s unnecessary to condition standard ABV ciders for months or years like it’s the case with other brews such as mead or wine.
3 months – 6 months to mellow fusel alcohol and acidic flavor– the higher the harsh, fusel alcohol content and more acids there are, the longer it will take to mellow it. This is the only real reason for long conditioning besides barrel aging for extracting flavors from the oak. In case the cider is above 15% ABV, you created a monster that could age for a year, but that’s a rate exception.
Minimum 6 months for barrel aging – If you want to extract the flavors from the wood such as when you are aging cider in an oak barrel. Oak will slowly add a touch of aromas such as vanilla, clove, nutmeg, and coconut to the cider but it takes time.
How to age ciders?
Room temperature is ideal for yeast activity after priming, as warmer temperatures will create the Co2 way faster.
After that, you can transfer the bottles somewhere colder, to a standard cellar temperature of 50-60°F (10-15°C) in a dark place.
Unless you put hops in your cider, they won’t be as sensitive to light as beers, but it’s still suggested to keep ciders in a dark place because UV light might interfere with the yeast or other ingredients.
The temperature itself should be in the mentioned range, but what’s more important is that you minimize the oscillations in the temperature throughout aging time.
Yeast is sensitive to quick temperature oscillations and it may stress it. Small oscillations are unlikely to cause any noticeable damage but the ones greater than just a few degrees could.
I mean, some of these standards are more respected at industrial scales than at home cider making, but I am just stating the best practices.
How are commercial ciders aged?
Commercial ciders are always controlled from the start to the end by rigorous standards.
Thus, it’s common to pasteurize ciders to keep the standard the same every time for every customer.
Every brew which was made as a result of fermentation will continue to change over time unless its yeast activity is halted or preservatives are added.
Therefore, just like most commercial brews, ciders leave the brewery in one shape after short conditioning times and are delivered to customers the same as always.
Somersby is a good example of famous ciders which don’t have to age long but have to be made in a controlled environment with high-quality ingredients.
Ferment good apple juice with tart/sweet qualities, put plenty of sugar and additional aromas by taste in, carbonate it, and voila. Somersby is pasteurized, so you could do the same if you wanted but there’s no really need in my opinion unless you needed to kill yeast to back sweeten.
Somersby is among the most popular ciders out there and if you can make something similar with minimum aging to taste like a Somersby (and I did it, so I know it’s possible), then long aging really isn’t necessary.
Is it possible to overage cider?
Ciders do have a shelf life and they can expire, but they won’t get to the point where they’ll hurt you.
What happens to a cider that aged too long is that it loses its charm by losing some of its delicate fruity flavors and instead it tastes bland with more pronounced alcoholic and acid flavors.
Most ciders including ciders made at home have a shelf life of about 12 months.
Really hard, high ABV (above 12%) ciders can be still good after 3 years.
A 5-year-old cider, for instance, will likely taste bad and may even turn into vinegar unless the ABV was ridiculously high and the storing conditions were perfect.
Final take on
Ciders aren’t wines, meads, or beers and it’s impossible to apply the same expectations to them regarding conditioning and aging.
While it’s impossible for mead or wine to taste as good straight after bottling as they would taste after a couple of months, it’s certainly possible with ciders.
Ciders can be enjoyed fresh just like wheat beers and IPAs, so if you are in a hurry, enjoy them fresh.
If you on other hand, want to mellow high abv, make the acid more comfortable, or barrel condition then aging makes sense.
Bear in mind that by sweetening your cider you can make it even better when it’s fresh as sugar masks imperfections otherwise removed with conditioning.
Have a good day and a happy cider-making adventure ahead!